There are two reasons for the huge drop in the number of people accused of abusing the benefits system and neither has to do with the Government’s welfare policy. The first is that soaring unemployment and some very hard campaigning, mostly by benefit claimants themselves, has helped to change, if only slightly, public opinion towards sick and disabled claimants. The second is that (as pointed out in the comments by @luckylove) the Government’s recent report on tackling hate crime included an action point that the DWP would work to address negative media stereotypes of disabled people.

How exactly Chris Grayling was doing this when he yesterday accused disabled people on benefits as living ‘wasted lives’ is somewhat unclear. But it does mean that he can’t fib quite as much as he used to about sick and disabled people.

Of course this hasn’t stopped him fibbing entirely. Chris Grayling is well known as a lying bastard after all. He’s conveniently ignored the huge numbers of people who successfully appeal against sickness benefit decisions in these figures. And the DWP conveniently forgets to mention that most of the people stripped of sickness benefits are not ‘fit as a fiddle’ as the Sun today claims. In fact many of them have serious health problems including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease or enduring and debilitating mental health conditions. So it appears the DWP’s efforts to address negative media stereotypes of disabled people by not lying quite as much as they used to, are failing as miserably as the welfare policies they are pursuing.

The current testing system, carried out by private company Atos, is not really designed to assess people’s health, but to strip benefits from as many people as possible. It is therefore of little surprise that figures should reveal so many people are ‘fit for work’ when the goal posts have been shifted so significantly. It should be not forgotten that those on Incapacity Benefit have not just been deemed unable to work by their own doctors, but also by a DWP doctor, often several times. Long term claimants were regularly re-assessed by Doctors long before Atos and their short computer based test came along and attempted to redefine sickness and disability.

An international comparison is perhaps useful when discussing rates of disability and ill health in the population. The UK does not have significantly more people on sickness and disability benefits than other comparable economies. In fact a higher percentage of disabled people in the UK are estimated to work than in Germany, Australia, Canada and the United States.

Different country’s welfare systems and policies towards disability and sickness vary enormously so it is difficult to make precise comparisons. An example of this is Japan, which has relatively low numbers of people on disability benefits, but many people retire at 55 and the state pension age is 60.

However some figures are available which give an indication of rates of sickness and disability around the world. A Parliamentary Briefing released last June (PDF) shows that around 6.6% of people of working age in the UK currently receive an out of work health related benefit such as Incapacity Benefit. How this compares to other countries is shown in the graph reproduced below of sickness and disability benefit rates in OECD countries in 2007. The UK’s current rate of claimants is indeed slightly higher than the average amongst OECD countries which is around 6%. It should be remembered however that this includes countries like Korea and Mexico who are not famous for their welfare provision. The UK has significantly less people on disability benefits than Sweden, Denmark and Holland and a only slighter higher number than the United States.

If the Atos holocaust continues at the same pace then only 4% of the UK’s population will remain on sickness benefits, far less than almost all the countries in the OECD. Whilst Spain has a similar percentage on health related benefits, tens of thousands of disabled people are employed in Remploy style schemes, which is the very type of employment support that the Government is closing down here. It has also been estimated that 90% of disabled people in Spain are in moderate or extreme poverty. Is this the type of future that Grayling plans for disabled people in the UK?

Even more staggering is that if those placed in the Work Related Activity Group also find work, as Chris Grayling claims they could (and should), then the UK would only have 1.9% of sick and disabled people deemed unable to work. That’s not an efficient welfare policy, it’s a fucking medical miracle. Britain could well overtake Lourdes as a tourist destination as millions flock here to bathe in the healing waters of the Humber estuary or sample the magical cure-all elixirs of lager, fags and chips.

Perhaps the most revealing indicator of whether the UK truly has the lowest levels of sickness and disability in the world could be determined by looking at how many people deemed fit for work by Atos are actually finding jobs.

The answer, unsurprisingly, is virtually none of them. A study released at the end of 2010 (PDF) interviewed 3,650 people who had made a claim for the new Employment Support Allowance (ESA) which has replaced Incapacity Benefit for new claimants. As previously discussed, many of these people had stopped their claim during the assessment process because they found jobs. Only 10% were placed in the Support Group, meaning that they are deemed as being unfit for any kind of work, a trend which if it continues could mean only 0.65% of people in the UK are unable to work due to sickness or disability. God bless Chris Grayling and his magic healing hands. Neither Jesus nor antibiotics have had such an impressive record at healing the sick as Atos and the Tory party.

Of those who were found Fit For Work a less than impressive 13% had actually found work six months later. It is important to note that those surveyed were all new claimants. Over half of these people went back to work with the same employers they had been forced to leave due to sickness or injury. Many people only claim sickness benefits for a short period, so a Fit For Work outcome may have confirmed what they already knew and they were about to end claims and return to work anyway.

Of the 87% who were still out of work, over half claimed they were still too ill to be able to work. Only 28% believed they had a chance in the employment market and were actively seeking work and just 19% said they did not have a health problem, disability or illness which limited daily activities or work activities. 57% of the group judged Fit For Work said that their health was the biggest barrier to finding employment, whilst a lack of local jobs was given as a factor by just 31%.

The report also well demonstrates that of the meagre amount who found work, those who were older, looking after children or had recognisable disadvantages to employment such as low literacy, were far less likely to have found employment.

For those placed in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) the results are even more stark. Whilst 4% were in some form of work at the time of the survey, half of these were in Permitted Work. This is part time work which does not effect Employment Support Allowance, and must not last for over a year.

The survey points out that for the 2% who “report they are in workbut that this is not Permitted Work. It may simply be that they are not aware of the term Permitted Work; another possibility is that they may be in informal employment.”

Another possibility not mentioned is that they may be undertaking voluntary work. It is quite possible that virtually nobody in the WRAG group had actually come off benefits and gone into full time paid work.

The Government is dragging their feet on telling us how many of the 20,000 people in the WRAG group who were bullied onto the Work Programme last year have actually found jobs. That they know and don’t want to say would suggest it ain’t many.

It’s therefore increasingly reasonable to assume that Chris Grayling is not actually the all healing Messiah, he’s a dirty fucking snake oil salesman. Sickness and disability rates in the UK are pretty much the same as everywhere else, and no-one is finding work due to the Welfare reforms. This Government can now proudly proclaim to have the most vicious regime for people with terminal illnesses or severe disabilities in any developed economy, yet any financial savings gained are trivial.

Claimants are dumped from one benefit onto another. Whilst the loss of income will force the most vulnerable people in the country into desperate poverty, the savings to the tax payer are negligible. With billions of pounds currently being handed out to poverty pimps like Atos and A4e it’s quite possible that this cruel onslaught is actually costing more money than just leaving people the fuck alone.

Most sick and disabled people would love to get back to work, but not by being coerced or forced onto workfare. There is little or no provision for genuinely high quality training and education, and just as importantly there are no jobs. Whilst the business community laps up benefit bashing they are hardly going out of their way to provide decent paid work for sick and disabled people.

The benefits holocaust isn’t helping anyone and is forcing millions into poverty, homelessness and even greater ill health. The recent outrage at forced labour under the various workfare schemes shows that the public have had enough. It may have seemed an attractive idea to blame the unemployed, sick and disabled for unemployment, but attitudes are starting the change. Even the Daily Mail now has one popular columnist regularly lambasting the Government over the inhumane welfare reforms. The UK is still one of the richest countries in the world. That the most vulnerable and poorest members of this society have come under such unrelenting and brutal attack should shame every Tory, Lib Dem or Labour Party member who have all connived in this atrocity.

Every suicide that has happened due to Welfare Reform is blood on their hands and will be avenged. The businesses and charities profiting from this sick farce should remember the call of the recent workfare protests. If you exploit us, we will shut you down.

I would just like to say thank you for raising awareness of what this bunch of nazi bastards are trying to do, I’m a firm believer that our political elite are trying to embark on a policy of Eugenics, I’ve been saying that for years but people just call me mad.

I don’t call you mad; I think that’s precisely what they’re trying to do. I think that the rich are currently doing all they can to implement a systematic policy of population reduction by stealth – by pushing people off the bottom of the support tree. After all, there are no frontiers left; wealth has become a zero sum game, and they know it – so the only way they can become richer is by forcing the rest of us to become poorer. Which, for the past 30 years, is precisely what’s happened, as every penny of growth in the world economy was sucked out of the top. Now the growth has stopped, but the population continues to increase – and there’s only one way the sociopathically avaricious can continue to grow their wealth exponentially.

I’ve seen suggestions that people are already being refused help with their benefits appeals, on the (currently incorrect) grounds that legal aid is no longer available.

bloody hell that is really bad is that the CAB, charities?

you said

all they can do is declare an incompatibility – which Parliament is at liberty to completely ignore, as it has done with the issue of prisoner votes.

reading your post makes me feel doomed lol

you said

specifically, the abolition of Parliamentary sovereignty). Which we’re never going to get in this country without a revolution at best, and a bloody civil war at worst (and not even the last one of those managed it).

I have said from the very beginning that no polite or political correctness, or doing the right thing are going to get us anywhere and as ill as I am I would be the first one in line if we all stood up to the bastards and caused civil war.

Yea, but look on the bright side, the government are going to abolish the 50% tax rate for those earning over £150,000, the Jubilee and the Olympics are on the way and either Serco or Virgin are going to be responsible for childrens’ health in the South West.

Next miracle – #grayling will part the English Channel allowing the worlds sick and disabled to pour in and benefit from the #atos healingfest…or perhaps they could perform their miracles via webcams linked directly to the LIMA software and therefore excluding the costs involved in the abandonment of medical ethics altogether.

A couple of technical points. Firstly, the main reason the proportion of “fit for work” decisions has dropped so precipitously is that very few ex-IB claimants will abandon their claim to ESA – a group which is pretty much the largest of all new claimants. (Although it’d be interesting to see the stats for how many people are being found fit for work by default, for eg. not turning up to a WCA or returning an ESA50 form.) And secondly, once you consider that their last stats drop revealed that 85% of new claimants appealed their FFW decisions and at least 40% of those succeeded (the backlog for appeals is so huge that it’s impossible to tell the true proportion of successful appeals), the 37% FFW shrinks to 24%. And finally, as I wrote recently – in http://gwenhwyfaer.posterous.com/reinstatement – every single one of those 37% may have a case against the DWP under human rights law – and if just one wins such a case, all 52,200 of them may be able to claim compensation and/or reinstatment. Given that the ECHR awarded €78,000 damages in the defining case – well, is the government really sure it can spare £3.25bn to compensate its own illegal behaviour?

i) ‘gainful employment was not incompatible with a Fund member’s receipt of a full disability pension’ in UK terms, this means our DLA is safe but our status on esa\ib is not😦
ii) $75,000 was based on his icelandic money, we would get a pro rata equivalent
iii) ‘the entire ESA migration process is illegal’, no, the reason they changed it from IB to ESA, was to ‘overcome certain peculiarities’ with IB, what you have shown is must be one of them
iv) ‘Stec & others v United Kingdom…..’ the danger of this is, if benefits are counted as ‘possessions’, they are then vulnerable to legal action for payment and sequestration, this is what is behind the CSA being able to scam money off your benefits, previously because they were not counted as ‘property’ they were immune from such things

i. Remember, both IB and ESA allow for the possibility of “permitted work”; I don’t think that could be used as sufficient distinction for a variance.

ii. I rather got the impression it was intended as punitive damages – and the Fund believed it was acting legally. I suspect the Courts would be minded to accelerate the award somewhat for blatantly violating a pre-existing judgement.

iii. Well, if changing the benefit worked for ESA, it’ll work for PIP too; and I’m not asserting that the introduction of ESA was illegal, just that migrating existing IB claimants – who, like Ásmundsson, had no reason to believe that the assessment criteria would be ripped out from beneath them – will run into trouble. (All the more so given that IB is a contributory benefit, just like Ásmundsson’s pension was.) The effect of Stec is to extend that to IS. I’m not at all convinced that the fact that the name has changed is sufficient distinction, given the reluctance of previous governments to migrate, eg. SDA claimants onto new benefits (until now); again, it speaks to proportionality.

iv. The CSA were skimming benefits somewhat before 2005. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago that they would, for example, take a fiver a week from one parent and then dock it from the other parent’s benefits! (That they no longer do this may well be one effect of Stec – it’s OK to say that F must give £x to M, and to create an agency to make the collection, but not OK at all to withhold £x from M’s benefits having collected it; both the benefits and that £x being M’s possessions.) Indeed, docking benefits to pay off debts is an entirely too well established practice, and one I fell foul of myself 15 years ago (never let bills be put in your name in a shared house).

Of course, this will all have to be resolved by a judge; but I’m pretty confident the law is rather more on our side than not.

And one other thing that only just occurred to me. 141,000 cases? They were supposed to be doing 10,000 a week by now – and all 1.5 million that they thought would still have to be done by the middle of next year. Yet 141,000 is barely a quarter of that. I wonder what gives…?

I read your linked post with interest but cannot post on the site as I am not subscribed to any of the posting sites.

I have wondered for some time why someone with welfare issues has not gone to the EHR courts as I too believe this government is breaking the EHR with their criminal welfare tactics, however whenever the government as been questioned regards their policies and obvious HR issues they simply state that all their policies have been EHR checked which I do not believe at all.
The other element to consider is that nobody in our legal system may have the balls to start such a case and Cameron has already visited Strasbourg trying to force changes in the way Britain deals with EHR, however he was sussed and sent away but he will never stop trying and has drafted a British bill of rights which basically takes away all of our rights. Add the closure of our welfare rights centres and legal aid bill and we be fucked……..

Thanks for the post re the stats as it is always interesting to see how they fiddle them to create untrue sweeping statements to the public to try and blind them to the truth.

There is no way I will be killing myself following their crazy schemes either as my doc says work not possible and if they make me go against that I will find someone in law to help me.

Ah, sorry – I think I have “only subscribers may comment”. But trust me, posterous’ comment system is so hideous that it’s a blessing.😉

I think the main thing that’s kept anyone from going to the ECHR yet is simply that you have to exhaust the justice system in your own country before Strasbourg will see you; ESA has only been around for 4 years, so it’s simply too soon to see a judgment. There’s also a question of resources – people have to live, and JSA keeps them too busy to fight; and the fees that can be commanded by good HR lawyers is a fair indicator of their relative scarcity – asking for an HR lawyer with sufficient expertise in the benefits system too may be an ask too far. Nonetheless, I’ve heard mention of a few cases that are bubbling up towards the ECHR – although as you mention, the legal aid bill will probably put a stop to that; and more worryingly, I’ve seen suggestions that people are already being refused help with their benefits appeals, on the (currently incorrect) grounds that legal aid is no longer available.

(Of course, any case that rests on Ásmundsson should really be dealt with by a lower court, because the law is now settled on that point; an ECHR case could only be brought if, say, the Supreme Court had refused to comply with Ásmundsson – which is in itself a breach of the Convention).

As regards “all their policies have been checked” – in fact, all the Human Rights Act [1998] requires is that governments assert the compatibility of their legislation with the requirements of the Convention. They don’t have to do anything more; and even if the courts, which are required to go out of their way to attempt to interpret the law in a way that conforms to the Convention, cannot do this, all they can do is declare an incompatibility – which Parliament is at liberty to completely ignore, as it has done with the issue of prisoner votes. The irony of the chorus of voices raised against the “overly onerous” HRA is that the Act is actually damn near toothless – and could not be otherwise without fundamental constitutional reform (specifically, the abolition of Parliamentary sovereignty). Which we’re never going to get in this country without a revolution at best, and a bloody civil war at worst (and not even the last one of those managed it).

Moreover, the quality of this government’s fact-checking in other areas is… let’s be kind and say execrable. That’s what happens when a government decides it’s only going to bother listening to the voices that agree with it. So even if they had done any kind of due diligence with respect to Convention rights, it’s likely they’d have basically told some lawyers to sit in a room and “find ways to keep us out of trouble if the shit hits the fan”. And those lawyers probably aren’t very good, and probably are disincentivised from offering career-limiting advice…

What an utter piece of shit that man is, traducing the dignity and talents and interests of people who happen to have disabilities just becuase they aren’t drones on the capitalist production line is vile.

Perhaps they should all be made to sew up knickers for Portas and her silly tv programme.

Thank you for your eleoquent and down to earth views. Every word you speak, tells me I am not alone in my thinking. I have a severe disability (mental health), and do manage to work as a cleaner at the university where I just managed to get a BA honours degree. But they for some reason have stopped my DLA and as yet have not replied to my email wanting an explaination. its been 3 weeks. Ive been living on 15 pounds a week after paying out rent and am starting to build an overdraft to pay my bills. Ive filled in the form again which has caused me much distresss, having to give explicit details about my ‘failings’ in order to make my mental disorder fit into their rediculous form. which is more designed for people with physical disabilities. And now I hear that the government has passed the part of the reform bill so I will probably have to go for an interview with possibly a physiotherapist when they should take the work of my team of experts who are helping me. This frightens the hell out of me, to the point where it has taken me 3 weeks to fill the form in and the only reason it is going off is because my psychotherapy consultant is going to do it for me. I feel like an outcast most of the time anyway, hows this bastard form and interview suppposed to help me. I am in my 50s and have struggled in silence with a most debilitating illness, which has affected every area of my life, I have always tried to work in order to hide it and appear ‘normal’. and never claimed DLA until one year ago. Now I am fucked.
Do they realise that if it wasnt for my really kind and caring consultant that I would rather starve and end up on the streets than have to go through the rather frightening and humiliating interview with ATOS. the insurance company from the USA

Thank you for your voice. you speak for so many of us who are powerless to do so ourselves. I dont feel quite so alone reading your blogs. X

I am so sorry to hear of your situation, I believe it is happening to a lot of people right now but I am very pleased you have found someone to help you with those forms.

Everyone is scared of the ATOS poverty pimps and the only way to feel better is to beat the bastards at their own game and get what you are genuinely entitled to. Try not to go to any ATOS appointment on your own and ask for it to be recorded.

Think of it this way why should you have to starve and get into debt to pay your basic bills it will never work in the long run and make you feel worse.

I also understand you feeling that you want to appear normal but please remember you are an individual in your own right and just because you feel different in some way does not mean you should not be accepted in society.

It sounds like you did well at university and the fact you manage to hold down a job says to me you are a determined individual willing to do what it takes to get what you want so have the same approach to this challenge as well-)

Looby: First of all, check that they’ve given you the right DLA form. There’s a separate one for making claims on mental health grounds. Second, I’m really glad your consultant is helping you – I’ve had to do the form for myself, and for a client before, and I know it’s a monster of a thing to get through. I’ve found a lot of help and advice on this site: http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk, which gives some really good tips on getting through medicals and dealing with ATOS. Don’t let them bully you – you have a right to be treated with dignity and respect.

Started to read your blog, did the first page, couldn’t put it down….made me cry (almost, as I’m a man) when you mentioned your cats…I’ve always wanted to feel as much compassion for humans as I do for animals, but maybe I just wouldn’t be strong enough to live in this evil world if that was the case! If it helps I have empathy for you and anyone being bullied, yours S.

We must keep challenging headline statistics which have no clear factual basis. There is a big difference between people with long-term disabling conditions and those who need ESA for a short time and have every intention and prospect of returning to work yet they are lumped together as disability claimants. It is not surprising that some new claimants are fit for work by the time they are assessed, yet they are included as “bogus”. Has anyone found any long-term IB/ESA claimants who have been declared fit and asa result “incentivised” to get and keep a job they would otherwise not have? Unless thousands of such people exist the whole exercise is damaging and pointless.

The Government have always been very good at fiddling stats to suit their purposes, there is a website that produces the real stats of government but I cannot find it at the moment, I will post it when I find it again.

total great I love the blog I am in WRAG group and been forced on work program and I am to ill I been in out of hostpial for over 2 years now how hell am I post to get job when I am to ill and have a career.

Grayling is a total bastard and god I am count days when we can get this evil torys out😄

The only way is to get the accounting of every disabled person in and their facts, stats and feedback. At £20pm to run a online feedback survey asking all the main questions that any real professional and truthful politician would ask to get to the truth AFTER ATOS http://www.afteratos.com/ has been collecting the feedback from disabled regularly and feeding it back regularly and working with journalists and others to try and get the true facts out. Confidential and anonymous collecting feedback for over a year now from March 2011. This week AA will be up to Guardian Open Day and has spoken to BBC and sent all info to all newspapers and TV channels and NOT ONE!! has picked up that the only way is to get everyone’s feedback in and let everyone be accounted for. Every single person needs to be accounted for and the government and the one before be brought to account. Everything has been supported and run by one single lone disabled woman who was/is ex health professional, carer and severe impairment. All it takes is a but of money and support to man and endorse it and provide leaflets and enable people to give their feedback, and from that even put relevant input and support in and the right information and facts and stats about the disabled and how they are living, or not living will be there and now clearly known. We can do it for ourselves. But first we need the ability to account for ourselves. and for the government to be held to account for us.

Hi everyone just want to share with you that this morning I felt stronger emotionally this is been a long time since Dec 2012 with the assessment that A.TOS put me in wrag group without a medical. I have not seen a away out and have a few occicasssions attemted sucide due to many flaahbacks from past. Anyway I have not been strong pshycially or emotinally but have a very strong mind and decided to hand it over and am pleased to see many of us who fighting back and I decided hand it over to welfare scollictors and now feel no less powerlesss. Will keep you inform also can’t beleive the a.stotsining miraculous signs and wonders of A.TOS I will A.TOS at its word. Assessments to clients Go you will live and be fit for work. Couple weeks later died.
The sick are healed after their assesssment. Those who cant physcially walk or have dispair and lack of hope due to mental distress you to will be healed free from pain. HOWEVER THIS IS HIDDEN FROM BBC ITV AND NEWS PAPERS as we may have such a flock of people asking for these wonders miraculous signs. Just by the way keep your eye on Camron he to will have a miraculous sign as he walks on water to the people of Britiania to share his words “We re all in this together”! let us vomit and hope that what goes round comes round. xxxxx D

Stay strong have faith hope we who have been stigmited all our lives because of our physcial , mental disabilitys because we may not fit in know how hard it is to have our voice’s heard and be taken sirouselly often feeling vunrable and weak but we hve the advantage as we know the fight and we can take measures to prepare ourselves even if we may be injured in the process its about our right as humans for ourselves for those who can.t fight as well as our next genration who may be ill. People have the power not govermeent or DWPand ATOS

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